Several of you have sent me notes asking me about thoughts on what tires should be used when temperatures drop below 40 degrees.

Our Good Friend -- Aaron Link -- Engineer Extraordinare in Vehicle Dynamics (who you've seen behind the wheel of a few ZL1s on the test track - and is one of the men and women helping to do the 'magic' that you'll find in the ZL1 suspension) ... has sent me the following information to share with you.

Aaron writes:

Scott -

For customers who will want to install winter tires on their 2012 ZL1's for our current winter season, we recommend the following winter fitment (these will be the same recommendations for MY2013 that come out in the September 2012 bulletin):

Hi Scott. Any suggestions for a tire that may have a little more of a temperature window in the low end? Although I have no intention of snow or winter driving, I do intend to drive in the early spring and late fall. Of course here in Canada, temperatures at those times can still easily drop below 32. And of course, thank you for all of your input into the Camaro5 community. Your a prime example that GM does listen to their customers and care about what they say.

Hi Scott. Any suggestions for a tire that may have a little more of a temperature window in the low end? Although I have no intention of snow or winter driving, I do intend to drive in the early spring and late fall. Of course here in Canada, temperatures at those times can still easily drop below 32. And of course, thank you for all of your input into the Camaro5 community. Your a prime example that GM does listen to their customers and care about what they say.

Thank you for the kind words!

These are the tires we currently have on all of our CTF units.....thus, this is our recommendation.

"...What IS true: We anticipated that this would happen - we are never finished - and yes, Ford DOES deserve to win now and then. To think that GM can come out with a car to make ford throw in the towel is simply foolhardy..." - fbodfather

Several of you have sent me notes asking me about thoughts on what tires should be used when temperatures drop below 40 degrees.

Our Good Friend -- Aaron Link -- Engineer Extraordinare in Vehicle Dynamics (who you've seen behind the wheel of a few ZL1s on the test track - and is one of the men and women helping to do the 'magic' that you'll find in the ZL1 suspension) ... has sent me the following information to share with you.

Aaron writes:

Scott -

For customers who will want to install winter tires on their 2012 ZL1's for our current winter season, we recommend the following winter fitment (these will be the same recommendations for MY2013 that come out in the September 2012 bulletin):

For next winter, customers should plan to buy these snow tires in September 2012, as Pirelli usually builds their winter tires over the summer.

I'll certainly give the Sottos a strong vote of confidence! This is my 2nd winter running the 240 Sottozeros in stock sizes (255/40/19 & 285/35/19) on my CTS-V and I couldn't be happier with the way they perform!
There is virtually no loss in the car's handling ability on cold and cold/wet pavement and they are great on snow and ice covered roads. The combination of the tire's ability to grip in virtually all winter conditions and StabiliTrak provides very predictable performance with no surprises and a very secure feeling. You really have to try very hard to entice the car into a skid using normal throttle, brake and steering inputs if all the nannies are on... however if you want to "play" a bit, you can reduce the effect of the StabiliTrak and still control the car quite easily. A little practice in an empty, snow-covered parking lot will go a long way towards learning how the car behaves in winter conditions with these tires...

Excellent advice to buy 'em early. If you procrastinate, they will be sold out by mid-fall.
If I have any criticism of the tire at all, it would be that they feel a little more "darty" at highway speeds (on dry pavement) than the summer PS2s.
A friend of mine who also has a V put 255/40/19 Blizzaks on all 4 corners and the car feels like a marshmallow on dry pavement. A lot of the car's handling is lost with these tires, but they would probably be better in really deep snow.

I'm running General G-Max AS 03. Its an all season tire that does great in a wide range of driving conditions. I live in St. Louis and our temps swing drastacly. These tires do excellent in light snow too. GT is currently out of stock on the 275X40X20 based on other posts I've read. http://www.generaltire.com/tires/G-MAX-AS-03

Several of you have sent me notes asking me about thoughts on what tires should be used when temperatures drop below 40 degrees.

Our Good Friend -- Aaron Link -- Engineer Extraordinare in Vehicle Dynamics (who you've seen behind the wheel of a few ZL1s on the test track - and is one of the men and women helping to do the 'magic' that you'll find in the ZL1 suspension) ... has sent me the following information to share with you.

Aaron writes:

Scott -

For customers who will want to install winter tires on their 2012 ZL1's for our current winter season, we recommend the following winter fitment (these will be the same recommendations for MY2013 that come out in the September 2012 bulletin):

For next winter, customers should plan to buy these snow tires in September 2012, as Pirelli usually builds their winter tires over the summer.

I had trouble locating these locally, so I called Rudy at TireRack, a Frequent contributor on the Wheel and Tire thread, and he can set you up. His direct dial phone number is found on that thread 877-522-8473 ext. 664

OK, my question is regarding just storing the car for the winter in an unheated storage locker.

When the ZL1's were first announced, it was mentioned somewhere that the OEM tires weren't supposed to be even STORED in temps below 20 F.

Now keep in mind this would be for a car in storage, and not driven at those temps.

Are the OEM tires ok to leave on the car (as long as it's not being drivemn) even if the outside temp hits 0 degrees F or should I remove the tires and store then inside the house for the winter and put something else on the car or leave the car on jackstands of some type for the winter.